【正确答案】Whether or not it is ethical for members of the medical profession to select patients on the basis of profitability rather than severity of medical condition is a controversial issue nowadays. In my view this behaviour is not ethical, but I am sympathetic to the reasons doctors have for doing this, and I feel that steps should be taken to make the rewards doctors receive more commensurate with their efforts.
In cases where doctors turn patients with genuine medical problems away in order to perform expensive and unnecessary operations, such as plastic surgery, they are clearly acting unethically. It is generally understood that doctors have an obligation to preserve life and alleviate pain and suffering. So, if a doctor treats people with superficial problems to the exclusion of those truly suffering, that doctor is not meeting his or her obligations. To this extent, medical practices which are geared towards making money seem to go against the spirit of what it means to be a doctor.
However, having said this, it must be admitted that it is hard to blame doctors for opting for the money. Doctors study incredibly hard for many years, pay a small fortune in tuition fees, and endure a gruelling internship in a hospital. Finally, when they are free to practise by themselves the available work often involves travelling to remote places and working long hours with inadequate remuneration. Perhaps the entire situation could be avoided if some sort of action was taken by the government to ensure that doctors who take on more serious work are appropriately rewarded.
In conclusion, I certainly believe that doctors should not follow after profit, but on the other hand, I can sympathise with their situation and I do believe that something should be done to attract doctors back to serious practice.